
The Assault on Truth: Boris Johnson, Donald Trump and the Emergence of a New Moral Barbarism (Hardback)
Peter Oborne (author)Published: 04/02/2021

Oborne’s timely and pithy polemic against the myriad falsehoods and untruths perpetrated by Boris Johnson and the current Conservative government exposes a methodical process of pathological lying to secure power for its own ends.
When Peter Oborne wrote The Rise of Political Lying, looking at the growth of political falsehood during the governments of John Major and Tony Blair, he believed things had got as bad as they could be. But then on 23 July 2019, with the arrival of Boris Johnson at No 10, began a new and unprecedented epidemic of deceit.
In The Assault on Truth, a short and powerful new polemic, Oborne shows how Boris Johnson lied again and again in order to secure victory so he could force through Brexit in the face of parliamentary opposition. Johnson and his ministers then lied repeatedly to win the general election in December 2019. The government's woeful response to the coronavirus pandemic has generated another wave of falsehoods, misrepresentations and fabrications.
The scale and shamelessness of the lying of the Johnson administration far exceeds the lying about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction and other issues under Tony Blair. This book argues that the ruthless use of political deceit under the Johnson government is part of a wider attack on civilised values and traditional institutions across the Western world, especially by Donald Trump in the USA. The Johnson and Trump methodology of deceit is about securing power for its own ends - even when they get exposed for lying, they shrug it off as a matter of no consequence.
It matters because all Western institutions are built around the idea of integrity and accountability. This means that an assault on truth is an assault on the rule of law, state institutions and the fundamental idea of fairness, and even democracy itself.
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Ltd
ISBN: 9781398501003
Number of pages: 192
Dimensions: 198 x 130 x 18 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
'A clinical and merciless account of Johnson's mendacity... in a sane world it would be a political obituary... What makes Oborne's dossier so gripping is that he and Johnson share the same cultural and professional milieu... Johnson's lies are no secret, though they have rarely been as well documented as they are in The Assault on Truth... Oborne offers a stirring rage against the dying of the establishment light.' - William Davies, The Guardian
'An exceptional dissection of Boris Johnson's lying government ... You really do need to read it.' - Owen Jones
'His scathing insider's analysis of that culture here is required reading for anyone interested in that world of anonymous sources and private briefings. ' - Tim Adams, The Observer
'For left-wing readers, Oborne's book is valuable not just as the charge sheet against Johnson by someone who really gets him, but as a surprising glimpse at how our own politics look, through the most sympathetic conservative eyes.' - James A. Smith, Tribune
'Oborne's short, readable, accessible and damning book is a record of a life spent in the shadowy world that natural liars inhabit, where truth is a tradeable commodity... The lies [are] catalogued in Oborne's sober, remorseless book. We knew about many of them before, but putting them all together shows us the kind of man our prime minister is.' - Francis Beckett, The New European
You may also be interested in...
“We should take this seriously.”
Despite it’s comic cover and many people’s perception of Boris Johnson as likeable clown we should take the issues in this book seriously. Post truth politics is becoming the norm and unless we start to recognise... More
“The Assault On Truth”
I belong well and truly on and a part of the Marxist Left, but I must say, I do have a liking for Peter Oborne. He has come a long way from his 'Daily Mail' polemic. His earlier Works exposed the corruption... More
“Reprehensibly short”
Enjoyed reading this after seeing Peter Oborne doing media rounds on some left-wing platforms. He's erudite, insightful and righteous. Highly recommend to those who've already made their mind up about... More
Please sign in to write a review
Sign In / Register
Sign In
Download the Waterstones App
Would you like to proceed to the App store to download the Waterstones App?